Her eyes shot open and she was surrounded by dark familiarity.
The walls oozed with thick black slime and white specks drifted from the sky almost as if they were snowflakes.
She sat on the frozen ground and wrapped her arms tightly around her knees bringing them close to her chest.
This place brought back painful memories that she had done her best to hide in the recesses of her mind but now they were resurfacing all at once.
El felt as empty and as alone as she did when she was a child.
She tried to wipe away those overwhelming thoughts by replacing them with the new memories she had with Mike.
Desperate to ease her mind she began to sway while she hummed the song that played during their first dance.
.
"Professor, If my calculations are correct she has connected to the other realm and she should be there right now."
"Perfect." Lowe said rubbing his hands together.
Joyce grew frantic after hearing everything from her son "No! No! No! This can't be happening for the second damn time!" She retorted, pacing around and pulling out a cigarette
"Whoa, so Will you actually saw the demogorgon again?" Lucas gasped
"I saw three of them this time but they're smaller"
Dustin's mouth fell "So the slug shit we saw you pukin up, they were babies?"
"I guess" Will shrugged with an uneasy expression on his face
Joyce lit the cigarette and took a quick drag "That's it, I'm callin the Chief! We are gettin to the bottom of this once and for all!" she said running off to the payphone near by
"I'm just trying to process all of this." Max said, blinking slowly "So the doctors are actually a bunch of ass holes who took the monsters you basically gave birth to and raised them for some kind of crazy evil government experiment?!"
Will nodded "I knew they were hiding something, I just wasn't expecting it to be this.."
"Mike and El are sure taking a long time.." Lucas interrupted, glancing at his watch
Max grew worried "Do you think they're okay?"
"What If something happened guys? Maybe we should go check on them?" Will asked, nervously rubbing his head
"We?" Dustin shook his head from side to side "No we. Lucas AND I will go check on them, you can barely get out of bed as it is so you're staying right here mister"
"Um Hey! Did you forget about me?" Max intervened, waving her hands in his face
"You should stay with Will and his mom, ya know for comfort.."
Max deadpanned "You've gotta be kiddin me Dustin"
"I actually agree with him. You should stay with them plus somebody's gotta explain to Hopper what's happenin when he gets here so he doesn't murder us" Lucas replied lightheartedly, placing his hand on her shoulder
Max looked him in the eyes and sighed "Fine.. I guess"
"Thanks you're the best!" he replied, suddenly embracing her
Max eye's grew wide in shock and then she smiled, blushing faintly "Just be careful okay?" she cringed as she caught onto what she had just said "uh.. like don't do anything stupid Sinclair"
Dustin and Will exchanged knowing glances
"Ahem" Dustin cleared his throat "So we should get going Lucas"
He flushed with embarrassment and quickly broke the hug "Right. Right.. Going.. Now!"
The boys searched frantically around the ICU
"Dude I don't see them anywhere"
Lucas sighed hopelessly "There's far too many rooms. How are we gonna find them?"
They looked at each other at the same time "Supercomm!"
Lucas whipped out the supercomm from his book bag and turned it on "Mike, It's Lucas and Dustin, where are you guys?"
There was only silence on the other end
"Mike are you there? I repeat, are you there?"
Mike heard the muffled voice of Lucas coming from his pocket
The professor and doctor were far too preoccupied with El that they hadn't even paid him much attention
His body was sore and it pained him to move around but he knew he needed to somehow get his supercomm
He shifted his tied wrists slowly, struggling to move them towards his pocket
He bit his lip as he pulled out the supercomm, carefully positioning it in such a way so it wouldn't slip
He then placed it onto the floor and held the button with his finger "I'm here"
"Man! where are you?"
"They took us. We're in this weird lab. Please help El.." mumbled Mike's weary voice
Dustin grabbed the supercomm "Dude what lab? What's happening?"
"The boy! Get the boy!" shouted a voice from the background
Noises of what sounded like loud bangs emitted from the radio in which after followed Mike's ear splitting cries before completely turning into static
Dustin just stared in disbelief at the supercomm in his hands
Lucas snatched it from him and placed it back in his book bag "No time to waste. We gotta find them"
"Our friend just got the shit beaten out of him! How the hell can you be so calm?!" Dustin shouted, taking his hat off and brushing his hair back frivolously with his hand
"Look, We can't panic man. We have to stay strong alright.. For Mike and El. They need us right now okay. So do you have any clue on where this lab could be?"
Dustin walked anxiously in circles "Will mentioned something about a secret lab on the lowest level.. Could that be it?.. What if that's not it though? What if they die and it's all my damn fault?"
"Let's go!" Lucas pushed him along
Once they reached the bottom floor they sprinted along the narrow hall
"Any clue what room the lab is in?" Lucas asked
"I don't know man but this place gives me the creeps"
They suddenly heard loud yells coming from the very end of the hall
Dustin looked around suspiciously "Did you hear that?"
"Yeah. Let's check it out"
They made their way towards the door in which the noise was coming from. It was cracked open enough that they could get a good peek inside.
"Again, Who were you trying to contact!?" Lowe yelled at the battered boy. His lip was busted and one of his eyes had now swollen shut as his nose dribbled blood down to his chin.
"N-Nobody" He mumbled weakly
Lowe raised his metal rod into the air
"Professor! Come quick! Project Eleven has connected us to the enemy base!"
He smiled at Jones and tossed the rod to ground as he ran to the other side of the room
Dustin turned away swiftly from the door and closed his eyes "I think I'm gonna be sick.."
"I can't believe what those sons of bitches are doing to him" Lucas snapped, slamming his closed fist into his palm
"W-w-what are we gonna do?" Dustin asked, his voice shaking
Lucas took off the backpack and opened it going through its contents "Aha." he said running his fingers along the small pocket knife's blade
"Do you really think that's gonna work?"
Lucas smiled confidently "I have a plan"
Mike laid on the ground helplessly.
His heart felt as if it were drumming in his ears and his body ached all over.
He hated himself for not being able to protect her.
"Mike! Psssh Mike!"
He looked around the room curiously
"Over here!"
He turned his head to the door and his face lit up immediately as he saw who it was
"We're gonna get you outta here okay?" Lucas waved the pocket knife so Mike could see it. He then slid it across the bare floor towards him.
Mike smiled. He quickly cut through the rope that bound his hands and feet.
He sat still with his hands still behind his back
"I was trying to contact my friends earlier" he said abruptly trying to get the professors attention
Lowe made his way toward Mike "Oh really now? That wasn't a smart move you know."
"Why? are you scared?"
Lowe chuckled "Funny little boy, I'm not intimidated in the slightest, what are you and your little friends gonna do?"
"KILL YOUR ASS!" Mike yelled, springing out at him and jabbing the knife roughly into his leg
Lowe let out a sharp piercing howl that echoed throughout the lab
Mike then grabbed the metal rod and with all the strength he could muster up swung it into the professor.
The professor stumbled onto the ground, falling unconscious
"Put it down!" Jones yelled pointing his gun at Mike
"Easy man.. Easy.."
The doctor glared "I said drop your weapon now!"
"Mike's in deep shit" Dustin whispered, peeking through the door
"Are you thinking, what I'm thinking?"
Dustin smirked "The secret weapon?"
"Exactly" Lucas said grabbing his wrist rocket and placing a rock inside of the holder
He closed one eye and stuck his tongue out as he pulled it all the way back and carefully aimed it
Mike placed the rod and his knife on the ground slowly
Jones cocked his gun back and placed his fingers on the trigger "We should've gotten rid of you a long time ago.."
His gun suddenly flew out of his hand as a rock collided into it
"What the hell?"
Mike jolted after the gun and picked it up, pointing it straight at the doctor
Dustin and Lucas then rammed their way through the door
Jones eyes darted at them while he stared wide eyed in confusion
Lucas placed his wrist rocket proudly into his back pocket "You never mess with our friends, mother fucker!"